Whether you liked his movies or not, you have to accept the fact that he was a genius. He was credited for directing sixteen films, three of them shorts. In those few films he managed to change the way movies are made from start to finish. Most mainstream directors today, have been influenced in some way by how he directed. Here are some examples:
Photography - Stanley Kubrick started as a photographer for "Look Magazine," when he was just a high school student. Photographing captivating images that got the attention of executives, from the magazine to see that Stanley had a knack of capturing an entire scene in only a few images. This early success some critics believe, led him to master the camera in his movies. If you watch his films, his use of the steadicam and tracking shots, where the camera seems to be floating around even through walls and objects, (see "The Killing" for an example). This was also evident in his use of tracking shots in his war films. In the movie "Paths of Glory," when Kirk Douglas was walking in the trench, and the camera is walking with him as he heads down the line. This same shot has been used in many war films since. Most recently in the Steven Spielberg film "Warhorse."
Inventor - A film camera typically needs a lot of light in a scene to even capture a usable image. So obviously shooting a movie in candlelight would be next to impossible. Since Kubrick was a perfectionist that wanted authenticity in all his films, he basically altered a lens and camera to be able to shoot in low light such as candlelight. How can you forget his revolutionary work on the film "2001 A Space Odyssey." Here was a movie that was made before computer graphics, before we even landed on the moon. He was able to pull off a movie like that with basically nothing more than a camera and the ability to manipulate an image and create an entire universe in a studio. If you never saw it, check it out.
Music - Stanley Kubrick, was one of the first filmmakers to take music from more of a background bedding to set the scene and bring it to the forefront and make it the main focus. A great example of this is in "2001 A Space Odyssey." When the ship is flying to the moon set to the song "Blue Danube". Here you can see how everything in the scene is almost floating and dancing with the music. He used this same technique in all his films. Music can certainly set the stage for the mood of a scene, but to bring it from the background to the foreground essentially made the music the star of the scene.
Versatility - When you see that he directed a little over a dozen movies, but then you realize how many genres he covered in that small group of films. He has made a comedy, science fiction, thriller, horror, period piece, war epic and others. Some directors are known as directing one certain genre, to have made such few films as Kubrick made it really makes you realize how amazing that is.
Stanley Kubrick always had a vision of what he wanted in all his films. According to people that worked with him it was basically his way or the highway. A mentality like that demonstrates just how creative he was and didn't want others clouding his vision. Of course, it also led to feuds that sparked negative feelings by others towards the legendary director. Feelings that I find to be very unfortunate, because if something like that gets in the way of people enjoying this man's brilliant work, is a shame to say the least. His movies can be an acquired taste, but it's a taste that everyone should acquire. After all he was a genius.
by
Joe Talmage
webmoviepick@gmail.com
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